The melon was a hot one. Starting off the day with an hour and a half of practice went really well. I was really happy with the improvements my crew and I made to the car. I felt like we could have made it a little better with some more practice but that’s hard to do with only an hour and half of practice. Preparing for qualifying I had a mind set not to over drive the car and put a good smooth mistake free lap down. With that mind set I qualified 3rd. With a quick autograph session it was time to race. The pole sitter rolled a 6 so I started 4th. About 15 laps into the race I jumped out to a fair lead. About half way I started getting pressure from behind by Chase. Chase several times looked to the inside but couldnt pull the pass off. I couldn’t roll through the center as good as he could so I moved to the top grove to keep my momentum built up. I held him off for awhile until a late caution between lap 70 and 80. I didn’t want to see this caution cause we have to go double file on restarts which put Chase on the outside. the top groove was better as Chase took the lead. From lap 80 to 100 it seemed like caution after caution as Chase and i took turns at leading. It was lap 97 I pulled around Chase on the restart which was huge. I knew this would be my only chance at the win. But it didn’t last long with the caution coming out in turn three on that same lap. Now I was on the inside Chase on the outside. Chase and I were battling hard for the win. On the restart there was 2 laps left. I got a fair restart and stayed with Chase through 1 and 2. Going into three chase was about a half of a car length ahead. We were real close together side by side and we hit tire to tire and sent both of us spinning. I was hit in the driver side door but it was just minor damage, no suspension which allowed me to finish 4th. Chase wasn’t hit at all and was put back to the lead on the restart and went on to win. I want to thank Bill Eliott for giving the opportunity to race and my crew that never gives up no matter what happens. I want to thank mom and dad and my sponsors Hometown Community Bank, Its better in brasleton, and Jeff Haynie.
The GAS race at Lanier started off with a sunny morning. Practice was from 1:30 to 2:30. The number 19 BEDD car was handling decent , a little loose off the corner. We felt like we would race pretty good, but still looking for forward bite off the corner. Just before qualifying it came a down pore. Soon after that The race officials called the race and rescheduled it for the next weekend on May 9th.
Dillon Motorspeedway was an exciting weekend for the number 19 BEDD team. Started out practice really well. changed a few things during practice for forward bite. I felt like we had a really good car for the race, but after qualifying I was really worried about how would race because I qualified 12th. So i was just trying to keep focused and believe in the car that practiced really well. For the first half of the race I was going pretty hard but wasn’t giving it all i had. Running about 9th a caution came out. I was on the outside for the restart due to double file restarts. Which worked out really well for me. The outside line was actually faster on the starts. I think I moved up three positions putting me in the 6th position. Soon after the last caution another caution was out. Now knowing that I could possibly advance my position on the outside, restarting 6th, I battled hard to move up another three positions now running third. I was pumped up thinking we might have a chance to win this race. But just fell short finishing 3rd right on the 2nd place car. I had a blast and hopefully the fans and my crew did to. My crew never gave up on the car or myself so special thanks to the 19 BEDD crew. I’m thankful every day that I have this opportunity to race thanks to “Awsome Bll From Dawsonville”.
Anderson was a rough weekend for us. It was kind of frustrating because I felt like we started off pretty good in practice. The car was handling pretty well, a little loose off but not bad. I thought I would have qualified better than 5th, but ended up on the pole by the roll of the dice. I led about 10 to 15 laps until I was passed by the 1st and 2nd place cars. The car started to fall off really bad. It got to where I was just trying to survive and hold my position. The number 19 BEDD car still ended up 6th not to bad, but still room for improvement. I want to think Bill Elliott for giving me the opportunity to race, Jim Barfield, Terry Roberts, Ricky Turner, and my dad and mom for there help and support.
The 2009 season is underway with the Georgia Asphalt Series. The first race went really well at Watermelon Capital Speedway. Starting off practice Saturday around 2 o’clock I had a decent race car, but still not good enough for a top five car. My crew and I never gave up though and got the car handling to my liking in the last round of practice. After my crew prepared the car for qualifying, it was time for me to try not to let them down after there hard work. I kept telling myself not to over drive the car and I will put down a good lap. I ran a 16 02 and the pole was a 15 98 I qualified second. After a good qualifying round it was time for the race. On the start Tj Ried jumped out in the lead. I was just pacing myself behind him. Around lap 20 I passed Tj and pulled away into a comfortable lead still saving my car for the end. On lap 45 I was passed by Shane Sawyer. My car started to fall off and was really getting tight. From then on i was just trying to hang on to second. A late caushion jamed everybody back up for a 10 lap dash to the finish. Tj jumped back out to the lead, Shane Sawyer second and i was third until Shane Sieg passed me with about 5 to go. I ended up 4th not a bad run for the number 19 BEDD car. I want to thank Bill Elliott, Jim Barfield, my dad, Terry Roberts, and the rest of the crew for helpin me out.
The Georgia Winter Series race at Cordele, GA this past saturday was my first race of the new year. For being out of a legends car for awhile running late models it took me a couple of practice rounds to get back in the groove. I battled a really loose car the whole day. I drew a number five which put me on the pole for the second heat race. I led all six laps putting me on the outside pole for the feature. I was still battling a loose car so I made some adjustments in the front end to try to help the looseness. My adjustments still didn’t help. I was hanging on for 20 laps trying to hold off the third place guy. Coming to the checkered flag I was passing a lap car on the outside until he moved way up the track causing me to back out. The third place guy beat me to the finish line. The last lap was dissappointing but I still finished second in my class nd third over all so it was good day for the BEDD team. I want to thank Bill Elliott, and my dad for there help and support.
I have always wanted to go to Mobile to race. The track surface is fairly new so it has a lot of grip. The track is a half mile, high banked, and really fast. When I went out for practice I knew this was going to be a fun race. By the end of practice we were one of the top cars. For qualifying I had confidence that we were going to be good. We were good alright I got my first pole ever in a late model. At one point in the race i had a straight away lead, but at lap 65 a caution came out. Shortly after that I started to fall back. The car started to get snappy loose in the center of the corner. Right then I knew something wasn’t right because normally my car gets tighter as I go. Now I was just trying to survive the rest of the race. Putting a lot of cars a lap down earlier in the race when I was leading helped me survive a 6th place finish. After the race ended my crew and I looked at my tires and found out I had a blistered right rear tire. Causing the car to be really loose. After a disappointing night I’m looking forward to the next race at South Boston Speedway.
I could tell when I drove up to Pensacola speedway that I was going to like it. It’s worn out surface put an hurt on the tires within 20 laps which made it hard to get a good reading on the handling of the car. I was really pleased with the car in practice and hoping to have a good qualifying run. I qualified 9th putting me inside fifth row. I had a good solid top 8 car the whole race. With about 17 laps to go a big wreck happened on the front straight away. I was clear of the wreck until one last car clipped my right side door sending me spinning in front of the whole field. Luckily no one hit me after I spun which allowed me to continue for the last part of the race. With a little damage on the race car finishing seventh wasn’t to bad for the Bill Elliott Driver Development team. I want to thank my crew Jim Barfield, Terry Roberts, and my dad for helping me along the way.
I could tell when I drove up to Pensacola speedway that I was going to like it. It’s worn out surface put an hurt on the tires within 20 laps which made it hard to get a good reading on the handling of the car. I was really pleased with the car in practice and hoping to have a good qualifying run. I qualified 9th putting me inside fifth row. I had a good solid top 8 car the whole race. With about 17 laps to go a big wreck happened on the front straight away. I was clear of the wreck until one last car clipped my right side door sending me spinning in front of the whole field. Luckily no one hit me after I spun which allowed me to continue for the last part of the race. With a little damage on the race car finishing seventh wasn’t to bad for the Bill Elliott Driver Development team. I want to thank my crew Jim Barfield, Terry Roberts, and my dad for helping me along the way.
I didn’t realize how much history there was at Hickory Speedway until I got there. After looking at all the history there was I was hoping to add my name to the list. It was like being blind folded with no prier experience at Hickory Motor Speedway. I had to learn quick in practice Friday night. First time ever being on Hickory Motor Speedway I was second fastest. Since the car was really good in practice right off the batt we didn’t touch the car except for qualifying. For qualifying we put a stiffer right rear spring in the car to help turn the car better for two laps. We get ten minutes after qualifying to do what ever changes we need to do to the car for the race. So we changed the right rear spring back to what we had in practice for the 100 lap race. With a good starting spot, outside second row I felt like this was going to be a good night for the Bill Elliott Driver Development team. With being shuffled back to 7th on the start of the race. I battled my way back up to third with about 30 laps to go. I tried everything I could to try to pass the second place car but I did not have a good enough car to get around him. I ended up with a good third place finish but due to a illegal motor of the first place car I got moved to second. I had a ton of fun and I hope to race at Hickory again sometime soon. I want to thank the Bill Elliott Driver Development team for giving me this opportunity to race.
